VANCOUVER, BC – Wilderness Committee is glad a national carbon price finally seems on the horizon, but discouraged that Canada’s climate action remains far from what science requires.

The federal government’s plan would impose a $10 per tonne price on carbon for provinces who haven’t already enacted their own by 2018, which would then rise $10 per year. This scheme would not require British Columbia to raise its carbon tax until 2021.

“Once again our leaders have put off climate action,” said Peter McCartney, Climate Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. “Most of Canada already lives with an existing or imminent carbon price so this really doesn’t change much.”

Global temperatures have skyrocketed in 2016, with each passing month breaking a record set the month before. Scientists warn we could pass the “dangerous” two degree warming threshold by 2050.

“Alarm bells are ringing louder every day, yet our government insists incremental change will be enough,” said McCartney. “It’s a sad reality that the politically possible is miles behind the scientifically necessary, but this issue more than any other warrants leadership to break those barriers.”

Meanwhile, the government continues to advocate for fossil fuel export projects like the Pacific Northwest Liquefied Natural Gas plant and the Kinder Morgan pipeline, despite a recent report that shows current production is enough to break our carbon budget.

“That these projects are even up for a discussion is a sign of the denialism that pervades our governments,” said McCartney. “Maybe a price on carbon would have been enough if we had started 20 or 30 years ago but not at the 11th hour of the climate crisis – it’s bringing a rubber knife to a gunfight.”

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For more information, please contact:

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee

778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org